Spiritually Transformed Firearms Of Jesus Christ

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MrsSpringsteen

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abcnews.com


U.S. Military Weapons Inscribed With Secret 'Jesus' Bible Codes
Pentagon Supplier for Rifle Sights Says It Has 'Always' Added New Testament References
By JOSEPH RHEE, TAHMAN BRADLEY and BRIAN ROSS

Jan. 18, 2010 —

Coded references to New Testament Bible passages about Jesus Christ are inscribed on high-powered rifle sights provided to the United States military by a Michigan company, an ABC News investigation has found.

The sights are used by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the training of Iraqi and Afghan soldiers. The maker of the sights, Trijicon, has a $660 million multi-year contract to provide up to 800,000 sights to the Marine Corps, and additional contracts to provide sights to the U.S. Army.

U.S. military rules specifically prohibit the proselytizing of any religion in Iraq or Afghanistan and were drawn up in order to prevent criticism that the U.S. was embarked on a religious "Crusade" in its war against al Qaeda and Iraqi insurgents.

One of the citations on the gun sights, 2COR4:6, is an apparent reference to Second Corinthians 4:6 of the New Testament, which reads: "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

Other references include citations from the books of Revelation, Matthew and John dealing with Jesus as "the light of the world." John 8:12, referred to on the gun sights as JN8:12, reads, "Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

Trijicon confirmed to ABCNews.com that it adds the biblical codes to the sights sold to the U.S. military. Tom Munson, director of sales and marketing for Trijicon, which is based in Wixom, Michigan, said the inscriptions "have always been there" and said there was nothing wrong or illegal with adding them. Munson said the issue was being raised by a group that is "not Christian." The company has said the practice began under its founder, Glyn Bindon, a devout Christian from South Africa who was killed in a 2003 plane crash.

'It violates the Constitution'

The company's vision is described on its Web site: "Guided by our values, we endeavor to have our products used wherever precision aiming solutions are required to protect individual freedom."

"We believe that America is great when its people are good," says the Web site. "This goodness has been based on Biblical standards throughout our history, and we will strive to follow those morals."

Spokespeople for the U.S. Army and the Marine Corps both said their services were unaware of the biblical markings. They said officials were discussing what steps, if any, to take in the wake of the ABCNews.com report. It is not known how many Trijicon sights are currently in use by the U.S. military.

The biblical references appear in the same type font and size as the model numbers on the company's Advanced Combat Optical Guides, called the ACOG.

A photo on a Department of Defense Web site shows Iraqi soldiers being trained by U.S. troops with a rifle equipped with the Bible-coded sights.

"It's wrong, it violates the Constitution, it violates a number of federal laws," said Michael "Mikey" Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an advocacy group that seeks to preserve the separation of church and state in the military.

'Firearms of Jesus Christ'

"It allows the Mujahedeen, the Taliban, al Qaeda and the insurrectionists and jihadists to claim they're being shot by Jesus rifles," he said.

Weinstein, an attorney and former Air Force officer, said many members of his group who currently serve in the military have complained about the markings on the sights. He also claims they've told him that commanders have referred to weapons with the sights as "spiritually transformed firearm of Jesus Christ."

He said coded biblical inscriptions play into the hands of "those who are calling this a Crusade."

According to a government contracting watchdog group, fedspending.org, Trijicon had more than $100 million in government contracts in fiscal year 2008. The Michigan company won a $33 million Pentagon contract in July, 2009 for a new machine gun optic, according to Defense Industry Daily. The company's earnings from the U.S. military jumped significantly after 2005, when it won a $660 million long-term contract to supply the Marine Corps with sights.

"This is probably the best example of violation of the separation of church and state in this country," said Weinstein. "It's literally pushing fundamentalist Christianity at the point of a gun against the people that we're fighting. We're emboldening an enemy."
 
jesus-with-guns.jpg
 
And so we can always claim Christians (as in: fundamentalists) are perfectly non-violent and far from those evil Muslim fundamentalists.

PR works wonders.
 
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And so we can always claim Christians are perfectly non-violent and far from those evil Muslim fundamentalists.

PR works wonders.

Exactly. When my grandparents have TBN or some other Christian channel on, I sometimes sit there and wonder how Christian fundamentalists differ from Muslim fundamentalists when I heard preachers or "prophets" like Hal Lindsey talking about how Christians have a biblical mandate to destroy the Muslim faith. It's despicable. Just because they think it's supposed to happen after events that take place in a misinterpretation of Revelations and not right now doesn't make it different.

Here's some references to what people like the man I mentioned above have to say about the subject.


http://www.bay-of-fundie.com/archives/377/hal-lindsey-comics-part-3-prophecy
 
That's sad on so many levels.

The gun company's within its rights and I don't blame it. But the government is going to have to choose someone else to supply the weapons and eventually phase out the guns in use. If a soldier wants to carry similar words on his person and they're not visible or a part of the uniform or weapon, I don't have a problem with that.
 
Hmmm

The "Light references" are probably a play on the optics/or illuminative qualities of the sights. I guess if they were to have used some famous poem about light, that wouldn't have drawn the ire of this group. People do inscribe their instruments with all kinds of stuff, e.g., mottos, logos, and other wierdness, like Proctor and Gamble, and even US Currency.

How do the Afghans feel when we give them suitcases of money inscribed with all kinds of odd masonic symbolism to build their water and electric plants, and to pay their soldiers for security?

It's just not that big of a deal.
 
Exactly. When my grandparents have TBN or some other Christian channel on, I sometimes sit there and wonder how Christian fundamentalists differ from Muslim fundamentalists when I heard preachers or "prophets" like Hal Lindsey talking about how Christians have a biblical mandate to destroy the Muslim faith. It's despicable. Just because they think it's supposed to happen after events that take place in a misinterpretation of Revelations and not right now doesn't make it different.

Here's some references to what people like the man I mentioned above have to say about the subject.


http://www.bay-of-fundie.com/archives/377/hal-lindsey-comics-part-3-prophecy


Horrible, all these lies of people who call themselves 'men of God'!
I once went to a mass in a church in Tilburg (Netherlands) and there was this young priest who literally said that if you were looking for a religion of violence you should convert to Islam (!!).

And then they complain about the fact that the Catholic Church has less and less members...
 
Exactly. When my grandparents have TBN or some other Christian channel on, I sometimes sit there and wonder how Christian fundamentalists differ from Muslim fundamentalists when I heard preachers or "prophets" like Hal Lindsey talking about how Christians have a biblical mandate to destroy the Muslim faith. It's despicable. Just because they think it's supposed to happen after events that take place in a misinterpretation of Revelations and not right now doesn't make it different.

Here's some references to what people like the man I mentioned above have to say about the subject.


http://www.bay-of-fundie.com/archives/377/hal-lindsey-comics-part-3-prophecy


Exactly! At that stage, when they start talking about destroying someone's else faith because it opposes their faith, that's when differences vanish and they become the same thing: bigots. It makes me absolutely sick.
 
Exactly. When my grandparents have TBN or some other Christian channel on, I sometimes sit there and wonder how Christian fundamentalists differ from Muslim fundamentalists when I heard preachers or "prophets" like Hal Lindsey talking about how Christians have a biblical mandate to destroy the Muslim faith. It's despicable. Just because they think it's supposed to happen after events that take place in a misinterpretation of Revelations and not right now doesn't make it different.

Here's some references to what people like the man I mentioned above have to say about the subject.


http://www.bay-of-fundie.com/archives/377/hal-lindsey-comics-part-3-prophecy


From the link posted:

The Credo

"The Bay of Fundie believes in reality. Everybody must, because that is where we live. Wishing for an alternative reality won’t make it so. If you want to layer on top of reality a crazy story of talking snakes and poison apples and angry people in the sky, go right ahead. Just don’t force your silly fantasies onto anyone else."




Will I be in trouble if I tell you that I believe Jesus of Nazareth was God and
he was telling us the truth?
 
From the link posted:

The Credo

"The Bay of Fundie believes in reality. Everybody must, because that is where we live. Wishing for an alternative reality won’t make it so. If you want to layer on top of reality a crazy story of talking snakes and poison apples and angry people in the sky, go right ahead. Just don’t force your silly fantasies onto anyone else."




Will I be in trouble if I tell you that I believe Jesus of Nazareth was God and
he was telling us the truth?

"...go right ahead. Just don’t force your silly fantasies onto anyone else."
.
 
Will I be in trouble if I tell you that I believe Jesus of Nazareth was God and he was telling us the truth?

Sharing you viewpoint will not get you in trouble (with me, at least). I do expect people who are preaching to me to get the message when I tell them I'm not interested. Also, limiting other people's freedoms because of your individual religious beliefs is unacceptable.
 
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